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Out-of-Court Victories

For years, the San Felipe Del Rio Consolidated Independent School District Board of Trustees had begun its meetings with prayers. At least some of those prayers had explicitly sectarian references. AU wrote a letter to the school district explaining that it is unconstitutional to present prayers at meetings of school boards, and that the sectarian nature of the prayers compounded the constitutional violation. The school district then ceased the prayers and started to hold a moment of silence instead. Read more

AU received a complaint that the Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole required a parolee, as a condition of parole, to attend Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous meetings. The Board required attendance at the AA and NA meetings, which contain religious content, despite a request for a secular alternative. In a letter to the Board, AU advised officials that coercing criminal offenders — either overtly by threat of punishment or subtly by providing incentives — to participate in a religious rehabilitation program violates the Establishment Clause. Read more

AU received a complaint that a keyboarding teacher at a Cobb County Middle School made several proselytizing comments to eighth-grade students and appeared to be tailoring her curriculum to comport with her religious views. Read more

AU learned that the Reynoldsburg School District regularly held students’ orchestra-class performances at a local Methodist church, where, among other visible religious iconography, a spot-lit 15-foot cross was suspended directly over students as they performed. Read more

AU received multiple complaints that the Menominee Parks & Recreation Committee was considering erecting a crèche in the bandshell of a public park. In past years, the City had displayed an illuminated manger. In a letter to the City, AU explained that a public entity may display a religious symbol only when it appears among other items that — together — communicate a secular message. The letter cautioned that the City’s planned display would run afoul of the Establishment Clause because it would send an unmistakably religious message. Read more

AU learned that the Mayor of Olean allowed a private group to erect a crèche on the front lawn of the Olean Municipal Building, but would not allow other groups and individuals to put up other holiday displays. We wrote a letter informing the City that the private display violated the Establishment Clause, and asking that the City either remove the crèche from City property or adopt a formal policy allowing other community groups, religious and non-religious, to erect displays there. After receiving AU’s letter, the City eventually had the crèche display relocated to private property. Read more

An October 2007 performance by the Gunnison High School choir featured several religious songs. Choir students were told that if they did not sing the songs, they would receive a reduced or failing grade in choir class. In a letter to the District, AU explained that, while some federal courts have permitted school-sponsored performances that contain religious music in recognition of the secular educational value they present, the courts have been equally clear that students may not be forced to perform in the religious portions of the program. Read more

As the faculty “sponsor” of Naperville Central High School’s Fellowship of Christian Athletes, a teacher maintained the group’s website, which was hosted on the school’s official server and was accessible through the teacher’s official school webpage and the school’s student-club page. On the website, the teacher described the chapter’s expressly religious mission, invited students “interested in growing closer to the Lord” to attend FCA meetings, and posted proselytizing narratives recounting FCA events. Read more

AU received a complaint that several teachers at Hawthorne High School were leaders in Young Life ministry — a religious club — and actively promoted Young Life to students during the school day. These teachers displayed Young Life posters in their classrooms, wore Young Life apparel, distributed Young Life flyers, announced Young Life meetings to students during class, and transformed honors and AP study-group sessions at their homes into impromptu Young Life meetings. AU wrote a complaint letter about these practices to the school district in October 2007. Read more

AU learned that an elementary-school teacher in the Appleton Area School District organized and led a student gospel choir. The teacher also arranged for the choir to perform at a gospel concert at a nearby church. AU wrote a letter, explaining that, while such a choir might be permissible if it were student-run and student-initiated, by spearheading and actively participating in the group, the teacher had transformed the choir and the concert into official school activities that violated the Establishment Clause. AU requested that the District cancel the choir’s participation in the gos Read more